If you still haven’t sold your house, then it means that you’ll need to try harder 
As promised, this post is about making your house look bigger and better through de-cluttering. With all the tons of “useful” Christmas presents you just got, this post can give you some breathing space.
– Who else hates a cluttered house?
– I do! I do!
– So why don’t you do something about it?
– Because… I don’t know where to start.
So here are a couple of ideas.
Before we begin, this is not your regular tutorial on de-cluttering the whole house – it would take a lot of time and would not serve the purpose of selling your house faster and for a better price. This post is about “cosmetic” de-cluttering, meaning you deal with visible areas only. Anything that you can hide and lock stays put.
Let’s begin with surfaces in your house, because they seem to attract clutter like a magnet. Usually these are kitchen tables, kitchen benches, coffee tables, desks, book shelves, etc. Believe it or not, simple clearing of these surfaces will make your home look and feel bigger and nicer.
What works? Get a big cardboard box. Approach each surface. Dump everything in the box. Wipe the dust and smile, because it looks SO much better already. Now what do you do with this box full of, ahem, stuff? Put the family photos and any of the stuff you’re proud to display back. The rest – I am confident you will find a place for it. Just in case you were running out of ideas, think about donating things, selling them on eBay, giving them to friends or tossing them out.
Now let’s proceed to kids’ stuff. When people come to inspection and walk into your little one’s room, a pile of soft toys looks very cute – it won’t look as cute in your living room, and the same goes for the rest of the toys. Get some plastic or cardboard boxes that you can store under the child’s bed, put the artwork, pens and pencils in one box, toys in another, books in the third box.
The bedroom. If you have a night stand, hide all the medicines, the remote, everything that looks messy, in its drawers. Leave the night light and a couple of books, if you’re a reader. If there is no room in the nightstand, get an under-bed box.
The study. If you’re a creative-mess person, this will inconvenience you – but remember, it’s all for a good cause. Let’s begin with your desk – pencil-holders are essential, all the papers need to be put in neat piles, and while you’re at it – get some light drawers to sort the bills, the invoices, the mail once and for all. As a rule of thumb, free up 70% of your desk surface to make it look good. Tie all the wires hanging down from your PC together, use a braided sleeve or a Velcro fastener; they will look much tidier this way. Put all the CDs and DVDs in one place – even a plastic box will do.
Are you still here? The clutter is not going to sort it self out
